Typewriting machine



June 13, 1944. F. .-scHuLTz TYPEWRITING MACHINE Filed April 7. 1942' 2Sheets-Sheet 1 June 13,A 1944. u F SHULTZ v l Y i 2,351,07

TYPEWRITING MACHINE Filed April '7. 1942 2 Shee'cs-SheerI 2 7i BY lATTORNEYS Fatented une i3, i944 'EYPEWRHTWG MACMNE Frank Schultz,Cliside Park, N. Si., assigner to Autographic Register Company, Hoboken,N. J., a corporation of New .liersey Application April '1, 1942, serialNo. 437,964

3 claims. (ci. isi-133) 'I'his inventionrelatis to typewriting machines,and more particularly to means for positively feeding continuous recordand/or carbon strips through such machines to maintain the strips inregistration at the writing line and in properly 5 aligned position on,and with respect to, the platen.

It has been the custom to feed and control continuous strips in awriting machine by means of spaced pins carried by the platen forsucces-` sively engaging similarly spaced holes in the strips. When thepins are xed on the platen and the thickness of the pile of strips isnot too great, the strips may be satisfactorily` fed and controlled inthis way without any special arl' they would so do if the drag on thestrips as they rangement being made to guide or control the strips.

When, however, the thickness of the pile of strips is substantial, forinstance when there are flve record and four carbon strips, if the feed2O holes in the strips are aligned at the writing line, those at theintroductory side of the platen will be so o'set depthwise of the pilethat the pins cannot readily enter the holes in the strips withouttearing the paper and destroying the holes for their aligning functions.This offsetting is caused by the bending of the pile of strips aroundthe cylindrical surface of the platen, the thickness of the interveningstrips causingthe radii than the radii of curvature of the inner strips.

This problem has long been recognized, and various solutions of it havebeen proposed and attempted. Usually, they have involved changes in theconstruction, location and arrangement of the pinwheel so that onlythose pins which are located near the writing line (where the offset isnot suillcient to be troublesome) may engage the holes in the strip.But, these suggestions have involved the use of special mechanisms, orat least extra moving parts, with the attendant cost of manufacture,installation and maintenance.

According to the present invention, the problemis solved without the useof extra parts and merely by a novel disposition of the paper tablespective paper strips are sufficiently aligned to receive the pins.

of curvature of the outer strips to be greater 30 Preferably, the papertable is so located and shaped with respect to the platen that a.gradually narrowing throat is provided from the introductory side of theplaten to the printing side, and in this throat the strips are carriedgradually closer to the platen and the pins thereon as the line ofwriting is approached. l

With this arrangement, the pins at the under rear ,side of the platenare in position to engage the holes in the strips if the holes arealigned. For instance, where a few recordand'carbon strips are used sothat the pile would have little thickness and the offsetting of theholes would not Y,

be appreciable, all of the pins on the platen adjacent the paper tablemay engage the holes, and

pass over the rear end of the paper table is suicient to hold the stripsup against the platen at' the mouth of the paper table. Where asubstantial number of strips is used or the strips are of heavy or thickmaterial, danger of tearing the material at the point of engagement ofthe pins with the aligned holes in the feeding operation vis not greatbecause of the mass of material engaged. However, when fewer strips areused, the danger of tearing increases, and it is therefore importantthat a greater number of pins engages the strips so as to distribute thelload and avoid Another feature of the present invention is' theprovision of means whereby an existing typewriter may be quickly andeasily converted so as to operate according to the present invention. f

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate one form of thisinvention as exemplary thereof- Figure `1 is a front elevation of theplaten and parts of the carriage of a typewriting machine, showing therelation between the paper strips and the paper guiding and supportingmeans and the feeding means for the strips.

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view taken through the parts shown inFig. l, and showing the relation of the paper table and platen of thepresent invention.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view, partly diagrammatic, showing the relationbetween the paper table, the pinwheel feed device, and the paper strips.

Fig. 4 is a detail view showing suitable means for detachably holdingthe paper table on the usual feed'roll release rod of a typewritingmachine. Y

Fig. 5 is a detail view showing the manner in which the guide rollerbail may be extended to accommodate the present invention.

As shown in the accompanying drawings, the continuous strips I are fedover a platen II by which they are supported to receive impressions fromtype bars I2 or other suitable imprinting device along a line of writingindicated by the letter gauge plate I3 which forms part of thetypewriter carriage and which is supported on a bar i4. The paper stripsI0 have along either or both margins feed apertures I5 equally spacedand adapted to engage similarly spaced pins I6 mounted directly on theplaten or carried by a pinwheel I1 secured to the platen and whichusually has the same diameter as the platen.

As the platen is rotated by one of the knobs I8 or by line-spacemechanism including a ratchet I9, the pins I6, being in engagement withthe aligned holes I5 in the strips, cause the strips to advance togetherwhile maintaining them in registration and in alignment on, aond withrespect to, the platen. To remove the strips from the pin and to supportthe portions of the strips advanced beyondthe platen, the presentinvention provides a special strip-supporting bail 20 which is supportedby arms 2I forming part of the guide roll supporting bail of thetypewriting machine. Each of these arms 2| is extended, according to thepresent invention, by a block 22 secured to the arm by a screw 23 andhaving over and underlying ledges 24. This is done for the purpose ofmoving a paper guide rod 25 forwardl'y so that the guide rod 25 willpermit the pile of strips to rise from the pin as the leading edge isguided upwardly by the bail 20. Rollers 26 carried on the rod 25 rest onthe platen beyond the edges of the pile of strips and serve merely tosupport the front end of the bail comprising the arms`2l and rod 25, thebail being pivotally mounted at its rear end at 21 on the carriageframe.

To adapt an existing typewriter to the present invention, in addition tothe extension of the guide roller bail and the provision of thesupporting bail 20, the platen is rst removed by the release ofconvenient and well-known means, then the usual paper table is takenfrom the carriage, the new paper table provided by the present inventionis then substituted for it, and then.

the platen is returned to the carriage.

The usual paper table has a portion substantially conforming to thecurvature of the platen' and located in close proximity thereto andcarries feed rollers engaging the paper wrapped around the platen. Thisportion of the paperv table meets with an upwardly and rearwardlyextending portion and together these two prtions guide the paper andhold it close to the platen at the introductory side thereof. If theplaten is provided with fixed pins and a substantially thick pile ofrecord and carbon strips is introduced tothe platen with the use of theordinary paper table, it will be found that, as the leading edge of thepile is brought to the writing line, the pins approaching the paper atthe introductory side of the platen will tear the paper of the outerstrips of the pile as they try to enter the feeding apertures. This isdue to the fact that the outer layers of the pile have larger radii ofcurvature than. the inner vstrips,vand

e in radii between the inner and outer strips is not great enough toprevent the pins from entering the holes without tearing the paper,especially where the holes are as usual slightly larger in diameter than,the diameter of the pins.

To avoid this dlillculty, it has been proposed heretofore to so locatethe pinwheel with relation to the platen that only a few of the pinsnear the line of writing where the strips are substantially inregistration will engage the holes, or to move the pins radially of theplaten so that all except a few pins near the line of writing will belocated below the surface of the platen. 'Ihese proposals requiredadditional mechanism to support and operate the pinwheel or means formounting each pin for individual movement and providing means forejecting and retractlng the pins.

According to the present invention, the need for this extra mechanism,with its attendant cost andjmechanical troubles, is obviated by merelysubstituting for the usual paper table the improved paper table 28 ofthe present invention. This paper table may have a rear portion 29 whichis preferably rounded and over which the pile of strips passes to themachine. Forwardly of the rounded portion 29 the table may have a flatdownwardly extending portion 30 which joins with a curved portion 3|,the rear end of which is substantially spaced from the platen and thepins of the pinwheels and the forward end of which extends upwardlytoward the writing line and inwardly toward the platen.

As shown in Fig..3, there vis thus formed be- I tween the rear end ofcurved portion 3i of the paper table on the one hand, and the surface ofthe platen on the other, a wide throat 32, which gradually narrows as itextends forwardly, through which the strips pass, in being fed. At theopening of the throat, that is to say, at the introductory side of theplaten, the straight and curved portions of the paper table are sospaced from the ends of the pins I6 that a pile of strips of substantialthickness may pass between the end of the pin and the surface of thepaper table without the pins engaging the strips. As the strips proceedforwardly and then upwardly under and around the platen, this spacedecreases so that at a more advanced point, for instance the positionindicated by the pin marked I 6a in Fig. 3, the end of the p in justabout touches the innermost strip of the pile. Continuing forwardly, thepaper table more closely approaches the.

` trol of the strips. As the strips extend upwardly and rearwardly, itwill be seen that the pins, marked IGd and l6e in Fig. 3, havecompletely y registered the strips, and these pins, along with the pinIBc, have the burden of feeding the pile. It will thus be seen that,because of the gradual narrowing throat 32, the strips are broughtgradin which case the offsetting between the inner,

and outer strips of the pile is not great, a greater number of pins mayengage the strips than when a thicker pile is fed. Assuming that theweight of the pile of strips led over the rounded portion 29 of the endof the table is suficient to hold the pile of strips up toward theplaten, as indicated in dot-and-dash lines in Fig. 2, the strips wouldbe engaged not only by three pins as shown in Fig. 3, but by the nextthree pins, thus distributing the load between the pins and the paperover six. pins and holes rather than three. This is extremelyadvantageous, for where the strips are few and thin, the danger oftearing the paper in the feeding operation is -greater than when thepile has substantial thickness, or when the strips of the pilethemselves have greater thickness.

It follows that piles of various thicknesses between the rather thinpile shown in dot-anddash lines in Fig. 2 and the rather thick pileshown in Fig. 3 will take positions intermediate those shown in Fig. 2and Fig. 3, according to the degree of offset between the holes in thestrips at the point where the pin may engage the strips, and that, ifthe offset is too great, the pins may merely hold the pile of strips offor away from the platen until they may enter without opposition from thepaper table.

The curved portion 3l of the paper table may l be provided with a slot34 through which the ends has lugs 39 extending on both sides of the armi 38 to hold the table against lateral motion. As shown in Fig. 4, a rod40 which is carried by the arm 38 is leftv in position and the table hasspring clips 4| which snap over this rod and hold the table in place. Asshown in Fig. 2, the rear end of the table rests on a rod 42 found onthe typewriter, and the table may be provided with spring clips 43 toengage this rod.

To guide the strips laterally into the introductory side of the platen,the vpaper table 28 may be provided with lateral guides 44, and,extending between these, there may be provided a rod 45 serving to holdthe strips against casual movement away from the paper table.

The front support 20 for the paper strips may have any suitable form orshape. In the form of the invention shown, it is formed of a rod benttending feed pins for engagement with similarly spaced feed holes insuperposed strips in substantial registration to feed the latter aroundthe platen in substantial registration with each other 5 and inalignment with the platen, and a paper table forming with the adjacentsurface of the platen, a throat through which the pile of strips passes,means for applying a yielding drag to the superposed strips in thethroat to move the same' l toward the axis of the platen, theintroductory side of the table having its surface spaced substantiallyfrom the adjacent surface of the platen to permit the superposed stripssupported upon the ends of the pins to pass between the ends of l thepins and the table so that the pins may enter the holes in the stripsunder the urge of the drag thereon at any point from the introductoryside of the platen forward'at which the holes are sufficiently alignedto receive the pins, the surface of the table gradually approaching thesurfaceV of the platen as it extends upwardly and forwardly to guide thestrips into engagement with the pins as the writing line is approached.

2. In a typewriting machine, a rotary platen, a pinwheel rotated withthe platen and having xed thereon a series of equispaced radiallyextending feed pins for engagement with similarly spaced feed holes vinstrips to feed the latter around the platen in registration and inalign- $0 ment with the platen, and a paper table cooperating with theplaten to form an unobstructed passage for the strip', means for causingthe portion of the strips in said passage to be yieldingly urged towardthe axis of the platen, said paper table, having a rear edge over whichthe strips 'may travel in a line tangential to the platen when thestrips are sumciently in register to permitthe pins at the introductoryside of the platen to freely enter the holes in the strips, the portionof the table at the introductory side of the platen having its surfacespaced substantially from the adjacent surface of the platen to permitthe pile to pass between the e'nds of the pins and the table when thestrips are offset to such an extent at their pin-engaging positions thatthe pins may not freely enter the holes in the strips.

3. In a typewriting machine, a rotary platen, a pinwheel rotated withthe platen and having xed thereon a series of equispaced radiallyextending feed pins for engagement with similarly spaced feed holes insuperposed. strips to feed the latter around the platen in registrationwith each other and in alignment with the platen, a paper table disposedbelow the platen in spaced relation thereto, the adjacent surfaces ofthe table and platen forming a throat through which the superposedstrips pass, means for maintaining an upward and rearward yielding dragon the portion of the strips in the throat beneath the platen andpinwheel to urge the strips to move toward impaling position on thepinwheel, the introductory side of the table being spaced from the pinssumciently to permit the pile of strips to pass freely thereover whilesupported by the engagement of the inner strip by the pins until thepoint in the travel of the pile is reached in which the feed holes aresufficiently aligned to permit the pins to freely enter said feed holes,the surface of the table approaching the surface of the platen as thetable extends' upwardly and forwardly to guide the strips intoengagement with the pins as the writing line is approached.

FRANK SCHULIZ.

